Or beating the Monday night blues . . . .
We read our Sharon Olds' imitations (famous dead person poems) to a partner. You may want to type it up for Friday's workshop.
Next, we did a warm up under a title: Reasons For . . .
How to Add Detail: The dash and the double dash
Use the dash. Follow the dash with a list or an anecdote or dialogue.
Ex. List: I hate my father--the white shoes, the gold tooth, the bald head.
Ex. Anecdote: I hate my father--the time at the Port Hope fall fair. He sat in the garden, stumbling over beer, daisies choked by the fence, butterflies.
Ex. Dialogue: I hate my father, "Come here, Sweetie."
Double Dash--after Jan Zwicky in her poem, "Transparence".
Get the notes from a partner.
Tonight: Go onto the site www.poetryfoundation.org and search under poems.
You will find they have over 10,000 poems organized by theme. Find a modern poem that you think is brilliant. Choose one thing from that poem that you can teach the class. Create a writing exercise for the class to do.
Bring the poem to class to read. You may print it out or have it on your phone or portable device.
